1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a soldering iron stand.
2. Description of the State of the Art
Soldering techniques are a cornerstone of the electric and electronic industries, and technological advances therein have been amazing.
Along with industrial growth, soldering for a large number of electric/electronic circuit boards has been increasingly dominated by soldering using an automatic machine free of human power, i.e., a flow-soldering bath and a reflow-soldering furnace. However, there inherently remains a manual soldering task using a soldering iron, such as a soldering task for repair, and a soldering task for a particular electronic element which cannot be soldered without relying on human power.
In manual soldering operations, a soldering iron stand is used for putting a soldering iron thereon when the operator does not use the soldering iron.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication P2005-111496A (hereinafter referred to as “Prior Art Document 1”), a soldering iron stand is provided with a sleeve-shaped soldering iron holder for receiving therein a soldering iron. An operator inserts the soldering iron, into the soldering iron holder from a tip end of the soldering iron, to put the soldering iron on the soldering iron stand.
In manual soldering operations, operators often repeat operations of putting soldering irons on soldering iron stands. Because a soldering iron holder provided with the soldering iron stand is a member which holds a heated portion of the soldering iron, the member is generally made of metal having high heat resistance. Thus, in many times, uncomfortable metallic sound occurs when a soldering iron is put on the soldering holder during the use of the conventional soldering iron stand disclosed in the Prior Art Document 1 due to the friction between the soldering iron and the soldering iron holder.
One contemplated way to solve this problem is to choose a plastic material having high heat resistance for the soldering iron holder in the Prior Art Document 1. In this case, however, heat is liable to accumulate in a grip portion of the soldering iron. This causes a new problem that a temperature management becomes difficult.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a soldering iron stand capable of preventing the occurrence of noise and maximally reducing a heat influence on a grip portion of a soldering iron.